[Asterisk-Users] g.729 - licenses and opinions

[Steve Underwood]

Chinese DVD player makers can ship a player for $25. Of that, they pay 
up to $5 in IP royalties to foreign companies. The development of their 
own EVD standard was specifically to sidestep this burden. Patents do 
cause harmful splintering. We need stuff that interworks, far more than 
we need the absolute best. GSM was good enough, and available, and took 
the world by storm. Apart from some band issues (mostly in the US), you 
can receive a GSM call almost anywhere on the planet. People want to 
pick up a disc for any old movie they find, and be able to play it. 
Innovation is good, but partisan splintering is definitely bad.

Regards,
Steve


Joseph Finley wrote:

>I think you "patent haters" are looking at the negative aspect only.
>Remember, that competition drives innovation.  If everyone used the same
>product there would be no incentive to develop anything new or along the
>same lines, where's reward to innovate if there is no incentive, why do it?
>Incentive being the $$ for your work.  This thread could go further into
>music, art, publications, pharmaceuticals, etc.  I don't believe in
>monopolies, but it would lead to an intellectual monopoly thus a stagnant
>never changing technology.  I know the concept will be hard to understand
>for some.  Don't flame, just understand the other side.
>
>
>Joe
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com
>[mailto:asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Walt Reed
>Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 4:32 PM
>To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
>Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] g.729 - licenses and opinions
>
>
>On Thu, May 13, 2004 at 02:58:47PM -0500, Steven Critchfield said:
>  
>
>>On Thu, 2004-05-13 at 14:45, Kevin Walsh wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Steven Critchfield [critch at basesys.com] wrote:
>>>      
>>>
>>>>So while I think it is important, I
>>>>also can't seem to draw a reasonable line. 24 months in most 
>>>>software isn't enough time from day 0 to make any reward for the 
>>>>work, at least not monetarily. What software project out there do 
>>>>you know had a major roll out sufficiently under 24 months from 
>>>>beginning of programming to have paid the programming staff off 
>>>>after say 1 year past the initial 24 months?
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>Software patents encourage monopoly rather than freedom.  Idiots 
>>>write a line of code and then feel that they've "invented" 
>>>something.
>>>      
>>>
>>Temporary monopoly. Of course with the current time limits, it might 
>>as well be permanent since the techniques will be mostly useless by 
>>the time they are free.
>>    
>>
>
>And don't forget that with patents, it actually encourages splintering of
>technologies and hinders compatability. It happens all around us - GSM vs
>CDMA, GIF/PNG/JPEG, MPeg/OGG/WMA, etc. With software patents, the only
>benefit is to the patent holder. Users just get screwed.
>  
>